A case of patriarchy in the Maratha community?

The Marathas organised a rally in Pune on July 29 merely a few days after the Maratha protest for the reservation issue turned into a violent agitation and Mumbai was shut down. The rally that came five days after the Mumbai bandh saw women being designated to the last rows.

A large number of people amounting to thousands assembled under the banner of Maratha Kranti Morcha to protest against the cases being filed for organizing protest rallies in the state. Their demands were similar to the demands of the protesters across the state that asked for reservation in jobs and educational institutes besides minimum support price to farmers.

The rally was organised as informed to the media from Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj statue, Deccan area, to Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue at SSPMS in Shivajinagar.

The protest march began by offering flowers to the statue of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and a large number of Marathas thronged to take part in the rally with saffron mufflers and saffron flags.

Previously in 2016 when the Maratha community launched their first silent protests, a group of 20 women were the face of the marches who walked in front of hundreds of thousands of protestors and delivered fiery, motivational speeches at the end of every rally.

Surprisingly, the rally organised in Pune had to be halted merely five minutes after it had begun over arguments on where the women should be placed either behind the men or leading them but one of the organisers of yesterday’s rally, Rajendra Kondhare, blamed the crowd chaos for deciding on placing the women behind the men. “There was plenty of chaos and it became difficult to control the crowds, hence the women had to be asked to walk behind the men. Now political leaders have started to participate in the marches and instead of controlling the crowds, they are trying to increase the aggression. Even we wanted the women to lead the march,” Kondhare stated.

A few women participants played down the incident as reported by Mumbai Mirror, saying the only issues that mattered were the community’s demands. Prachi Dudhane, said, “The nature of the protest has changed hence the women were walking in the middle of the crowds. It doesn’t matter where we walk. Putting forth the community’s demands is more important.”

Puja Zole, another participant in the rally, said it appeared the women participants were relegated to the last rows because “another group of men” was walking ahead of them. “We were leading our respective group,” Zole informed.

An organiser of the rally, Vikas Pasalkar informed “sloganshouting was necessary at the event because of which the aggressive lot was put in front”. “There was plenty of chaos and to ensure the women remained safe, the men formed a circle around them,” he added.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the same day assured partial withdrawal of police cases filed against the Maratha youths for vandalising properties during recent protests for the quota demand.

“However, criminal charges such as assaulting police officers will not be withdrawn,” the CM told reporters at Sahyadri Guest House. Fadnavis announced this after a meeting was held with Rajya Sabha MP Narayan Rane and his MLA son Nitesh Rane, along with some leaders of the Maratha community. However, the names of the pro-reservation groups were not revealed by the state government.

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